Intel took the lead with its second generation SSD, X25-M G2, and it has now raised the bar even higher by adding TRIM support. The technology minimizes performance loss with often used SSDs through smart handling of the flash memory cells. TRIM is only, natively, supported by Windows 7 and beside Intel memory controller maker Indilinx has added support for the technology. Well known SSDs with Indilinx Barefoot controller include OCZ Vertex, SuperTalent UltraDrive GX and Corsair P series.

Intel’s new TRIM firmware only works with the latest G2 models, which unfortunately leaves all G1 owners out in the cold. It has also released a manual TRIM application called SSD Toolbox. This is also exclusive for the G2 drives.

Intel X25-M G2

A nice bonus with the new firmware is that the top model, Intel X25-M G2 160GB, also gets a write speed boost from 80MB/s to 100MB/s. Unfortunately the 80GB model remains at 80MB/s write speed and even if 100MB/s would be a pleasant increase Intel’s SSDs still have problems keeping up when there are a lot of write actions.

Multiple tests of Intel’s new TRIM firmware has appeared and the most interesting, in our opinion, comes from Anandtech where it compares it to Indilinx TRIM support in real life scenarios. Using innovative tests you get a good grip of the actual performance of modern SSDs and it shows that Intel has gained some good competition, much due to its own weak write speeds.